


Somewhere in her smile she knows

by ecastle_vania



Series: 2020 Castlevania Promptober [12]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, New Beginnings, Not Beta Read, Oh My God, Please stay forever, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Vlad's first impression, Wait I think I love you, Who does this woman think she is?, she's incredible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27077278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ecastle_vania/pseuds/ecastle_vania
Summary: Vlad had no use for humanity. They never left him alone, they smelled and they were ignorant. But when one audacious female comes banging on his door at sunset, he is convinced she must have lost her mind.
Relationships: Dracula Vlad Tepes | Mathias Cronqvist & Lisa, Dracula/Lisa (Castlevania)
Series: 2020 Castlevania Promptober [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953289
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	Somewhere in her smile she knows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sadtheburrito](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadtheburrito/gifts).



>   
> This is for an incredible artist who made a gorgeous picture of Lisa for the Masquerade Prompt a couple of days ago. I was so inspired by their work and utterly adored it. It gave me so many feelings that I wanted to give something back that might have an inkling of the joy they gave me, so here it is :)

Humanity was perpetually ungrateful. They took everything for granted, wasted what time they had, and constantly refused to heed the words of those who came before them. As though somehow, they might know better than the last thousand years and the hundreds of wiser, better men who came before them. It was exhausting, it was numbing and ultimately, it was enough to convince Vlad to leave humanity to their sad, pathetic devices.

He turned inward, seeking solitude and distraction. In a million different ways he found it. There was a space between magic and science where he could dip his immortal hands into the cosmos and craft wonders unlike anything that there had ever been. He discovered truths and marvels that most could only guess at. Vlad could happily immerse himself into his discoveries and projects for centuries. Well, theoretically he could, if it weren’t for the annoyance and harassment of humanity.

Would they never learn?! Armies, townsfolk, sorcerers, the church—they all marched on his land, and they all perished. Granted, he would usually just send his servants to deal with them, but it was exasperating, and worse, side-tracked him from far more important things. It was infuriating and made him despise them even more than he already did. He just wanted to be left alone. By the time he’d installed ‘the garden,’ as he liked to call the impaled corpses on his doorstep, he had declared humanity his eternal enemy.

Then she had knocked.

Who knocked on a door like his? Really? Someone incredibly stupid, had been his immediate conclusion. Still, he was diverted, and had decided to answer the summons himself. She had come alone, and from what he could sense, had no magic whatsoever. His expectation of stupidity had slid into an assurance of her insanity. But when her strong, calm voice had rung out, and she’d introduced herself, he had to admit he was surprised. Her self-possession was startling and there had been intelligence in her gaze. Granted, intelligence in a human was like a flickering candle in an endless night, but still, it surprised him.

 _Perhaps it wasn’t stupidity but bravery,_ he’d thought, and couldn’t accept that. Bravery only came with the possibility of victory. There was no victory here, no possible outcome where he didn’t bleed her dry. She had to know that, if there was any reason or logic in her at all. Just to make sure she understood what she’d willfully chosen to confront, he had disappeared in front of her eyes, and forced her to try to track him around the room. If it had been a little theatrical, well, it had been a while since he’d had a little fun, wasn’t it?

When he’d crept up behind her it’d been a pleasure to hear her heart pound, the quickened breath, and hard swallow. Fear was his due after all, and he was terrifying for a reason. She was so small beside him; he had to bend over her shoulder to give her his name. As if she didn’t already know it. Still, she’d given him that curtesy—another surprise really, so he would repay in kind. Maybe it was then that the change in his view of her began for him.

He’d been close enough to really smell her. Vlad had a whiff of her scent already of course. It was 1455; you could smell a human a mile away. _Really, only humanity could make something as reasonable as a bath a sign of sinful evil,_ he’d thought with rolled eyes. But she _had_ bathed recently; you could always tell. Perhaps she really did believe in science, and wasn’t just a chicken blood dabbler. There were the scents from her journey: dust, dirt, blood from the bat she had killed outside his door… but there were other things there too.

He could smell the heat of the sunshine in her cloak and the faintest tinge of the crisp apple she’d eaten in the last hour on her breath. He could practically taste the salt of the sweat rolling down her spine, it lingered all the way in the back of his throat. The smoke from her campfire clung to her packs, and there was an incredibly faint sent of blackberries. Underneath it all was something that intrigued him, was irresistibly _right._ The closest he could compare it to was the smell of the earth after it rained and something akin to autumn leaves. It was an uncharacteristic loss for him to not be able to identify that scent. Suddenly, he’d wanted to taste her. So he'd suggested a trade.

He was sure, so sure that she would offer him her blood, in exchange for the knowledge she was seeking. In reality, he would have taken it anyway, but there was something in her curtesy and her manner that made him hesitate. In a monster or a human, politeness and consideration were rare. It wasn’t as if there was a rush either; this moment was only a sliver of the mountain of time that was his to partake. Still, when her heartbeat had levelled out, and she’d stepped away— _not_ run away—he’d been too startled to react.

“Perhaps I could help you re-learn some manners,” she’d said to him. He still didn’t know what to make of it. She should have been petrified; she should have been begging for her life. Grudgingly, he'd wondered again if she might be far braver than he'd thought possible. But that couldn't be, how could she have known he wouldn't kill her on sight? Instead of attacking her, or draining her though, he’d been…embarrassed? Now there was an emotion that had was completely foreign. Vlad wasn’t self-conscious, ever. There was simply no reason in his memory that he would need to be. Even now, he wasn't sure why he had been.

Even more curious than the embarrassment, had been the respect. Anyone would've admired her daring, and her pride. He'd been intrigued and his curiosity deepened. Surely one of humanity, his sworn enemy, couldn't be _interesting_? On the surface, her comment was impertinent, but he'd found himself amused. That was the only explanation he could think of for what he did next. Why he did something he’d never expected to do; he started to lead her into his home.

She'd had to run to catch up with him, and again, he'd been struck by her size in comparison to him. She was so fragile and delicate, if he had but grasped her tightly, she would have broken. That was a human for you, they were as frail as a dried leaf in a storm. The angle of her chin, and her challenging question about whether he travelled had actually made him justify. He didn't know why he did, to do so was to suggest that somehow she had a valid point. He would almost have thought she was joking, if it weren't for the earnest expression and coaxing notes in her voice. He had neatly side-stepped the ludicrousness of that idea by showing her the observatory.

Vlad wasn't shocked by her astonishment, or her excitement. Of course she would be amazed, there was nothing like this anywhere else in the world, and certainly not in this backwater trash of a country. He hadn't been exaggerating when he'd told her this was the knowledge of the immortals and the true science. No, rather shock had been his to feel, when she had turned to him and suggested that he might teach humanity what he'd discovered here. That somehow they were deserving, or prepared for the responsibility of such knowledge! Vlad couldn't deny his anger had surged, but it had been held in check by the sheer hope and idealism on her face. She _believed_ this whole-heartedly. This wasn't some random suggestion, or off-the-cuff remark. This woman really held this ideal to be attainable. Vlad knew better, and yet...

"Why should I do that?" he had asked her, almost snickering. What an absurd and ridiculous idea! When she'd told him that he should do it to make the world better, he had wanted to laugh. Again, it was her face, something in the gentleness of her eyes, that had stopped him. How long had it been since he'd believed something so filled with optimism? Since he'd spoken to _anyone_ who'd held such a belief in goodness and virtue? True, he fully expected she might lose that any moment now; after all, she was rather old to still believe in the inherent decency of humanity. But who was he to abuse her of such a notion. Vlad has killed many things, but innocence was one that he had always tried to spare. 

"Start with me," she'd said and he'd actually considered it. "And I will start with you," she'd finished, eyebrow quirking with a little grin. She'd neatly suggested that the matter was already settled. He decided it wasn't bravery, and it wasn't stupidity. It was willpower. This woman had the fortitude to forge her own destiny. That was why she had not been afraid of him, and why she'd known how this would end before he did. That had decided him. He was a creature of discovery, research and knowledge. Here was an unknown factor, an unmeasured, and untried compound. He had nothing but time and unlimited power. What could it hurt to experiment? Indeed it might be an adventure.

Against his better judgement, he'd smiled. The feeling of his face moving into an expression of amusement, _happiness_ , was as foreign as the embarrassment had been. "I think I might like you," he'd told her, and showed her to her room. She'd brought almost nothing, and the logistics of that was only slightly an issue. Obviously she couldn't wear the same thing over and over again with nothing to don during wash. That had been a task for the seamstress. Human food had been more difficult, but even that could be resolved with portals. He'd sent one of his servants to procure rations.

It was fortunate that he favored beds over coffins. Her reaction had been intensely amusing. She was so easy to read, expressive and open. Her eyes had widened at the wide expanse of eiderdown, velvet and fur, and she'd gingerly sat on the bed. Really, it was one of the smaller ones in the castle, and perfect for her height. It could never have worked for him though; he could tell that his feet would hang off the end. On the other hand, that would never be an issue. He had no intention of ever being in her bed.

Perhaps his favorite thing so far had been the bath. He knew running water was a marvel in this day and age, but when she'd turned the faucet she'd had such a look of delight that he'd felt a little tug of pleasure. It _was_ wonderful, he'd just forgotten that it was. Vlad experienced it anew, through her eyes; her questions and leaps in logic opening a small crack in the careless assumption he had for such things. They'd faced a dilemma though, when she'd wanted to use it. Her clothes needed cleaning, and there were no other options available until the seamstress finished. Then her stomach growled. He'd only thought it logical to summon one of his tunics and see to dinner. When Vlad invited her to dinner, he carefully watched her face. Some would have assumed they would _be_ dinner, but she'd only been grateful. She'd trusted him immediately, something that he scorned, while simultaneously cherished.

All of this had seemed like a great idea, until she'd appeared in his dining room. Until he smelled her, clean from her bath and scented like undefinable rightness and fresh earth soaked with rain. Until he smelled his own scent on her, wrapped around her as securely as the tunic, _his_ tunic, that she wore like a dress and belted in place. Vlad doesn't remember these feelings and doesn't understand them in the moment. But in the coming days he will awaken to them. He will wonder exactly when his worst enemy became his favorite. He will wonder which moment it was, that he fell in love with Lisa. 

\--- 

Somewhere in her smile she knows  
That I don't need no other lover  
Something in her style that shows me  
I don't want to leave her now  
You know I believe and how  
You're asking me will my love grow  
I don't know, I don't know  
You stick around, now it may show

\- "Something," The Beatles

**Author's Note:**

> I might just write her first impression too, I forgot how much I loved their dynamic!  
> \---  
> Thanks to @eberhardgross (Twitter) for the castle photograph. Images of Lisa and Vlad property of Netflix.  
> \---  
> If you enjoyed this, you might also like another work of mine, "All the white horses are still in bed," which is Vlad's perspective on a night time feeding [for infant Adrian.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27132215) **Please note that "All the white horses are still in bed," is rated M for a brief sexual mention.**


End file.
